By IANS,
Hanoi : Visiting Indian Commerce Minister Anand Sharma met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung here Thursday to promote bilateral trade cooperation.
Vietnam and India have maintained a friendly relationship over the years, and now it expanded to strategic partnership, Nguyen said.
Vietnam will try to further develop the strategic partnership and support investments by Indian companies in the country, Xinhua quoted the Vietnamese leader as saying.
In the last decade, Vietnam-India two-way trade rose by 14 times with an average growth of 48 percent. Last year, it reached nearly $4 billion.
Nguyen suggested during his meeting with Sharma that the two countries closely coordinate in organising events to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their diplomatic relations (1972-2012) and 5th anniversary of strategic ties (July 2007-2012).
Sharma lauded Vietnam’s socio-economic achievements and said both sides should establish a joint committee at the deputy-ministerial level to solve problems especially in the areas of energy, information technology and pharmaceuticals.
He stressed on implementing the signed agreements between the two countries. He also expressed his confidence on efforts to boost the two-way trade to $7 billion by 2015.